𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐁𝐈𝐃𝐃𝐄𝐍 ᯓ outer banks

chapter one hundred and four

LIFE IS HARDER and weirder than you think. Sometimes the biggest victories come with the greatest losses, and sometimes the biggest villains are also unexpected heroes. When John B and Brooklyn's father came back, they thought it was a dream come true. But the thing that they found is life doesn't give you oceans without waves. Their dad wanted to make a great quest of his life. He wanted adventure, and he wanted to find treasure. Brooklyn sees John B as being their father's son, the spitting image of him.

They place flowers at his grave, their hands in one another's as they cry at his grave. They know that they'll cry at his grave for days to come. Here laid their father, the man who brought joy and adventure into his kids, and the man who will be remembered forever.

John B hugs his sister as their friends stand behind them. She cries into her brother's arms like she did the first time they believed he was dead. He cries with her and together, they're a beautiful mess.

And for eighteen months, Brooklyn cherishes her father and holds him dear to her heart, even when everything seems to calm down.

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EIGHTEEN MONTHS LATER

"An expedition of John and Brooklyn Routledge, and a group of teenagers, who are with us today. Locals, who grew up here and who succeeded where centuries of conquistadors, explorers and admirals failed. Today, we come together to celebrate these teens, friends from both sides of the island who came together to solve this five hundred-year-old mystery. Let's hear it for them!"

The crowd cheers, applauds as the six of them stand to their feet to take a bow and a couple photos.

All these people, here for them, but Brooklyn doesn't care, she's looking at the most important person in her life which is him.

Her fiancé, officially.

He's holding her hand and pressing a kiss to her head, his thumb grazing over the ring that sits on her finger. JJ leans in to her ear and whispers, "You look beautiful."

She leans against him. "So do you, Maybank," she whispers back and he kisses her hair.

After their applauds and cheers, they step off the stage, in need of an official reset. Yes, the last eighteen months had been pretty hectic, but the last thing any of them needed was to be applauded by a town that didn't want them in the first place, that neglected them for years. Now they have the gold, they have status, and suddenly everyone is interested. Crazy how that works, right?

"I need a reset," JJ mutters.

"I'll take a hit," Brooklyn replies as he starts up a joint. Brooklyn and JJ laugh at a table as they take it in turns hitting the joint.

Not too much has changed in the last eighteen months... Kiara is saving turtles, Pope is going off to school, and JJ bought the charter boat. They've now got a killer surf shop that Brooklyn and John B always wanted since they were kids. Brooklyn paid off Mike, with a generous tip included, just because she wanted to do good. Oh, and, JJ and Brooklyn are officially getting married. That kind of happened on a whim but they couldn't be happier.

Everything felt so normal.

A man steps over to the Sarah and John B's table and the others join quickly to see what he needs. "Can we help you?" Pope asks.

"I wanted to tell you all its remarkable what you did," he starts off with. "Royal Merchant, El Dorado, Denmark Tanny. Impressive resume, impressive. I was wondering if you would all be so kind as to look at an item of mine."

"What type of item is that?" Cleo asks as the man opens up his briefcase.

"It's a manuscript," he replies. "I would investigate it myself, but I'm too long in the tooth. I need partners, and you all were first on my list."

"May I?" Pope asks, reaching a hand forward.

"I was hoping you would," he responds.

Pope opens up the manuscript and reads, "1718. Jeez, this is old." Everyone peers over his shoulder as he skims through. "Exhibition notes, dates."

"This is a captain's log. This shows the exact position of the ship," John B notices.

"The exact location where the ship sailed and where it stopped," the man confirms.

"Who is the captain?" JJ questions.

The man replies with, "Edward Teach. Blackbeard."

"Hot damn," John B says as he looks to see each one of his friends smiling.

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authors note;

so it's over! well, for season three it is.

i plan to be back for season four and i'm excited to take this story further.

i may write a chapter on the proposal... maybe... i don't know... i'll see how i feel...

ANYWAY, thank you for the support and love, i appreciate it, and i hope to see you another time for season four.

before then, i would like to write more obx books, but need help on what relationships/themes/plots etc. that i should explore so if you have any fun ideas, lemme know! :)

until next time x